Monthly Archives: August 2010

WINDSOR – Lynn Faustino and Carol Grime found their stance, gripped the handles and tested the teeth of a two-handled crosscut saw before ripping through a log.

The two women from Rochester, Mass., teamed up for the women’s crosscut saw competition Monday at the 14th Annual Woodsmen’s Day at the Windsor Fair.

Blistering heat continued Monday on the second day of the fair, which ends Labor Day. But Faustino, a 42-year-old registered nurse, and Grime, 60, who works for a logging company, were barely breaking a sweat.

They made the first cut. Then a second.

The saw vibrated as its teeth ground into the wood fiber, dislodging sawdust and spilling it onto the ground.

Faustino said lumberjack competitions are great exercise, and they get to meet a lot of nice people.

“My husband got me into it,” Faustino said after her match. “I did it for six years and just started up again because my son’s doing it now. It’s really great fun, and we get to travel a lot.”

CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine – Sugarloaf Mountain is celebrating its 60th anniversary as a ski resort and thousands call Maine’s second highest peak their home mountain. For as long as skiers have hit the slopes there, they’ve looked longingly to the east and wondered “what if?”

What if the neighboring mountain was open to skiing, too?

“We’ve been talking about Burnt Mountain for 59 1/2 years,” Sugarloaf General Manager John Diller said at a Tuesday press conference.

They are tearing up the parking lot outside Exotic Java today and paving tomorrow. Exotic Java will be closed on Wednesday, according to the folks here, but stop buy later in the week for a Red Eye or other fine caffeinated beverage.

I’m not sure how I missed this part of the NPR package on Interstate 95 the other day (Paying a local price for I-95’s global promise | NPR), especially since it includes information on where I grew up. I was born in Fort Kent, traveled to Caribou to eat and shop, and drove those roads in my late teens and early 20s.

Extending Interstate 95 to Fort Kent or Madawaska would be good for the region to get goods and services that far north and products back south, but the comments point out that there are other pressing needs as well.

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine – When Scott Thompson, the Aroostook State Park manager, was invited to a trade show in Boston this spring, he didn’t let an opportunity pass him by.

Thompson, the manager of Maine’s northern-most state park, looked at the convention center full of intrepid tourists and seized the chance to send them 10 hours north.

“I was told to just hand out brochures. But I just thought, ‘Here we go,’ ” said Thompson, a Presque Isle native.

The affable and amusing Thompson told as many people as he could about the beauty of Aroostook County in summertime, about the 15 miles of Nordic ski trails he grooms around the state park in winter, and about the booming winter carnival held there now, which increased in attendance from 100 to 700 in three years.

Thompson must have intrigued a few tourists because attendance at Aroostook State Park is up 30 percent this year, according to the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands.

Here are links to a couple of Bangor Daily News stories on the American Folk Festival held this weekend on the Bangor Waterfront. There are stories, photos and video at the other end of these links back to the Bangor Daily News.

It was held this weekend, so plan for next year. While I would NEVER get into a balloon – I covered too many balloon mishaps in 23 years as a journalist – it does look like it was great fun. And there were other activities that went along with this year’s event.

I’ve also included a link to the festival’s website for those who are really interested.

And the photos come via Kelly McInnis, a high school classmate who still lives in The County. The photos are reprinted here with her permission.

Balloons at the Crown of Maine Balloon Festival held this weekend. Photo by Kelly McInnis

A balloon at the Crown of Maine Balloon Festival held this weekend. Photo by Kelly McInnis

Balloons at the Crown of Maine Balloon Festival held this weekend. Photo by Kelly McInnis

Here’s a photo I posted a few days ago showing the early change in color of foliage. This photo was taken not long ago near Jo-Mary Lake Campground in the shadow of Mount Katahdin. Photo by Kelly McInnis

The fall foliage season has started, at least for some trees.

Some species are turning yellow and shedding their foliage earlier than normal because of the dry summer. But forestry experts do not expect conditions to affect the prime leaf-peeping season.

“We have noticed it especially with paper and yellow birch,” said Bill Ostrofsky, a tree pathologist with the Maine Forest Service.

Touches of red and gold always appear on some trees in the Maine landscape in late August. But the dry conditions have led to more color this year. Until this week, no significant rain had fallen over much of the state since June.

The lack of water caused leaves to droop, then drop, on bushes and trees where the soil was especially dry.

In the coffeehouse I was just struck by something, something I’m sure others have thought about. I’m suddenly concerned that a whole generation of American music lovers will think that The Who is covering the “CSI” theme song.

Stuff about me

My name is Keith Michaud and this is “Letters From Away,” a blog written by a Mainer living outside the comfortable and sane confines of New England. The blog is intended for Mainers, whether they live in the Pine Tree State or beyond, and for anyone who has loved ’em, been baffled by ’em or both. Ayuh, I am “from away.” Worse still, I live on the Left Coast – in California. Enjoy! Or not. Your choice.